Lee Lozano Paul McCarthy : Nest

„Lee Lozano Paul McCarthy“, installation view, NEST, Zurich University of the Arts, in collaboration with Ursula Hauser Collection, 2023. Photo: Paulo Wirz

Lee Lozano, Untitled, c. 1964, graphite and crayon on paper, 25.5 x 73.8 cm; Untitled, c. 1964, graphite and crayon on paper, 25.5 x 73.8 cm. „Lee Lozano Paul McCarthy“, installation view, NEST, Zurich University of the Arts, in collaboration with Ursula Hauser Collection, 2023. © The Estate of Lee Lozano. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Paulo Wirz

Paul McCarthy, Pirate Heads, Carbon Fiber, Brown, 2003/2005, 3 of 5 heads, carbon fiber, brown. „Lee Lozano Paul McCarthy“, installation view, NEST, Zurich University of the Arts, in collaboration with Ursula Hauser Collection, 2023. © Paul McCarthy. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Paulo Wirz

„Lee Lozano Paul McCarthy“, installation view, NEST, Zurich University of the Arts, in collaboration with Ursula Hauser Collection, 2023. Photo: Paulo Wirz

Paul McCarthy, Santa Candy Cane (Bronze), 2004, Painted Bronze, 125 x 63 x 73 cm. „Lee Lozano Paul McCarthy“, installation view, NEST, Zurich University of the Arts, in collaboration with Ursula Hauser Collection, 2023. © Paul McCarthy. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Paulo Wirz

„Lee Lozano Paul McCarthy“, installation view, NEST, Zurich University of the Arts, in collaboration with Ursula Hauser Collection, 2023. Photo: Paulo Wirz

„Lee Lozano Paul McCarthy“, installation view, NEST, Zurich University of the Arts, in collaboration with Ursula Hauser Collection, 2023. Photo: Paulo Wirz

„Lee Lozano Paul McCarthy“, installation view, NEST, Zurich University of the Arts, in collaboration with Ursula Hauser Collection, 2023. Photo: Paulo Wirz

Poster: Oliver Kümmerli

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Lee Lozano Paul McCarthy

16.03.2023 – 13.04.2023

The students of the BA Fine Arts program, Floyd Bolliger, Mirijam Botros, Yuhyun Chung, Yan Lam Fung, Costanza Giorgi, Win Yan Nesta Or, Laura Piatti, Sara Pineda Fernandez, collectively curated this exhibition in the module NEST: ART & EXHIBITING with loans of the Ursula Hauser Collection.

This show presents works by two U.S. artists, Lee Lozano (1930–1999) and Paul McCarthy (*1945). The artistic practices highlighted are situated in different specific contexts and times. On display are Lee Lozano’s early drawings of anthropomorphically shaped tools, grotesque amalgamations of fragmented body parts, and later conceptual pieces that usher in her withdrawal from the art field. The sculptures and a video work by Paul McCarthy hint at his sprawling artistic practice. He famously caricatured the (male, abstract expressionist) painter in the 1990s and, over the following years, a much broader range of mystified figures in popular culture like pirates and Santa Claus.

Why establish a dialog? Digging deeper into the exhibited works, we discover parallels and dichotomies. A common theme, for example, seems to be the examination of the human body as subject-object. Confronting the two bodies of work prompts us to think beyond binaries, to dissect and unfold the notions of work, piece, series, rejection, and distribution. It sheds light on repelling artistic articulations that deploy conceptual, graphic, raucous, sexualized, and abject languages. Their controversial contents and aesthetics continue to be perceived ambivalently.